Nutella is bad food ?

It's delicious but it has a lot of oil and sugar. So, in moderation!

Nutella is a lovely food! (If used in moderation).
I unfortunately have an insane desire to eat the entire jar when I open it so none in my house except if I fully intend to eat the entire jar.

Me too!

It's basically frosting.

Yestarday i eat a bit of nutella, and i think it is healthy food. On the net opinion is divided.
What's the truth ?

You're going to get a large number of answers, on a wide spectrum, ranging from people telling you it's the best food ever created to people telling you it's poison. It really is your job to research the ingredients and form your own conclusion.

Best Wishes.

Nutella. The full (correct) list of ingredients
on Tuesday, 12 April 2011. Posted in Additives & labels
Tagged: children, chocolate, fat, food labels, junk food, kids, low GI, nutrition, snacks, sugar, trans fats

Nutella. The full (correct) list of ingredients
Have you ever tried to find the exact list of ingredients for Nutella online? The identical one that appears on its label - in descending order from the first (largest ingredient by weight) to the last ingredient, as required by food law? Well, you won’t find it! Here’s the hoop-la I went through to discover exactly what the ingredients in Nutella are and why Nutella is not good for your kids.

The spin

You'd think that the official website would give the full listing of Nutella ingredients, as well as the nutrition figures, in exactly the same way most other food manufacturers do these days. For example, take a look at the comprehensive Kellogg or Nestle sites where they detail everything. You may not fancy all their products but they do provide detailed info on each and every product including all ingredients, nutrition panel per 100g or per serve, and possible allergens.

Not so Nutella. Here's all they tell you about what's in their iconic product:

Nutella contains hazelnuts, cocoa powder, skim milk powder, vegetable oil, sugar, soy lecithin and vanillin
nutella_website_ingredsYes these are the ingredients in Nutella but not in their correct order. Nutella would like you to believe that their product is composed mainly of hazelnuts and cocoa (two healthy-sounding ingredients). So they re-arrange the true order to make a better impression. And leave out the percentage and the correct additive names.


The true list of Nutella

I actually had to purchase a jar of the stuff to find out the truth about the Nutella ingredients. Once you're looking at the back of the label, you quickly see - when forced by food law - what the product really is made from:

Sugar, vegetable oil, hazelnuts (13%), cocoa powder (7.4%), non-fat milk solids, emulsifier (soy lecithin), flavour (vanillin)
nutella_jar_ingredients

Its list of ingredients is very revealing. On the label, it MUST show them in descending order by weight from the largest down to the smallest.

So now I know that the first (read main) ingredient is sugar (not hazelnuts), followed by “vegetable oil” (not cocoa), then hazelnuts, then cocoa solids, followed by non-fat milk solids, soy lecithin and vanilla flavour.



Conclusion No 1

Nutella is more sugar and fat than hazelnuts - its true content of hazelnuts is low at only 13 per cent. Don’t be fooled by the advertising. Here’s what I’ve unearthed about the ingredients. And it really took a bit of detective work.

Sugar
Sugar is the first ingredient and thus the main by weight of all the Nutella ingredients. In fact Nutella is 55 per cent sugar! That puts Nutella on a par with chocolate.

Vegetable oil
The vegetable oil is palm oil, a semi-solid fat that’s needed to give Nutella its spreadable texture. At least this was disclosed on the website (see below). The manufacturer says they were using a hydrogenated oil until a couple of years ago but switched to palm oil to cut back on the trans fat in 2006. Palm oil is free of trans fat but is still high in saturated fat so it’s not good for you. It’s a no-win oil choice that many manufacturers face.

nutella_website_trans_fat

Cocoa
Cocoa solids (or powder) gives Nutella its chocolatey taste.

Emulsifier
Soy lecithin – a common emulsifier that keeps the sugar, oil, nuts and cocoa nicely blended and stops them separating out during the months on the shelves. Nothing sinister about it. It’s one of my safe additives (unless you’re allergic to soy)

Flavour (vanillin)
This is not vanilla or vanilla extract such as you use at home. Vanillin, which is most likely the synthetic form identical to the natural vanillin, but much less expensive is the largest flavour component of the vanilla bean but much less interesting.

Read what Wikipedia says about vanillin here

What’s not present
At least there’s no artificial colours or preservatives, no corn syrup and no added salt.



Nutrition facts nutella_website_nip
To fill in the rest of the detail, here’s the part of Nutella nutrition panel from the website which did coincide with the label:

Per 100g

Energy 2175kJ

Protein 7.3g

Fat, total 30.3g

Fat, saturated 10.0g

Carbohydrate, total 54.7g

Sugars 54.4g

Sodium 33 mg

Serve size is 20g which is one tablespoon – what you’d spread thinly on two slices of bread.



Conclusion No 2:

Think of Nutella as chocolate in spreadable form. With 30 per cent fat and almost 55 per cent sugar, Nutella almost mirrors chocolate in its composition. In fact, Nutella is more akin to milk chocolate with hazelnuts for fat, sugar and kilojoules, they're so close. See my comparison of the two weight for weight: Nutella side by side with Cadbury Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts. nutella jar

Nutella_Cadbuy_Haelnut_Chocolate_1

Nutella
Hazelnut

chocolate

Energy 2175kJ 2320kJ
Fat, total 30.3g 37.0g
Fat, saturated 10.0g 14.6g
Carb, total 54.7g 45.5g
Sugars 54.7g 44.4g
% hazelnuts 13% 23%















Did you notice that the chocolate block has 19% LESS sugar than Nutella and 23% hazelnuts compared to Nutella at only 13%? Less sugar, more nuts!



Conclusion No 3:

Nutella provides very little in the way of good nutrition. Not much protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals – the nutrients we are lacking. We don’t need more sugar and fat.

Any good points? Yes. Nutella is low in sodium as are many sweet foods. And it's a concentrated food that can increase kids' kilojoule intake easily if they're the chronically-underweight type and already eat a well-balanced diet.



4 most-asked questions on Nutella

Q. Is Nutella healthier than peanut butter?

No. Nutella might be sold in the peanut butter aisle, but it isn't a nutritional swap. Peanut butter has more protein, little sugar, healthy fat and vitamins. It’s a decent protein for vegetarians. Most are 85 per cent peanuts (with some oil and sugar) but you can buy 100 per cent peanut types.

Q. Is Nutella healthier than jam?

Not really. Nutella has 54 per cent sugar, jam and honey have around 60 to 70 per cent. But Nutella slaps on 30 per cent fat, while they have none. The nearest equivalent to Nutella on toast is peanut butter topped with honey on toast. Then it’s the same for sugar and fat.

Q. Is the suggested kids breakfast of fruit, Nutella on two slices of toast and low-fat milk a decent breakfast for kids?

Nope. You know it's not the healthiest breakfast to send your kids off the school with. It never has been and never will be. It’s just Nutella on toast “enhanced” to look better by the fruit and milk and white high-fibre bread.

Best bet: If you are going to give the kids the occasional piece of toast with Nutella, don't use butter or margarine and spread it on wholegrain bread rather than low-fibre white bread.

nutella_website_breakfast_comparison

Q. Is Nutella really low GI?

Yes. But so are things like sausages, corn chips and chocolate cake – usually thanks to their fat content which slows down the rate of digestion and absorption in your system (see the GI Website for more info). However, just because something has a low GI doesn’t necessarily make it a healthy choice. Would you give your kids corn chips and chocolate cake for breakfast?

Simply slapping on a “low GI” claim doesn’t make something healthier overall. If you believed the ads, you’d think that chocolatey-hazelnut spread was the health food of a nation and the perfect breakfast toast topper. It ain’t!

The bottom line

Why try to make out something is healthy when it’s not? And clearly not, when you look at the true list of Nutella ingredients. Just accept Nutella for the chocolatey treat it is! Have it on toast, croissant or crepes. It’s a good case of clever marketing that highlights the few positives — and says nothing about the bad things.


Nutella in the news

UK consumer watchdog Which? has hit out at an Advertising Standards Authority adjudication that rejected 31 complaints about a television advert for Nutella hazlenut spread. Which? complained about the advert on the basis that, firstly, it was misleading because it did not make clear that Nutella also contained a high proportion of sugar (55%) and fat. Secondly, the consumer watchdog said the advert was was likely to encourage poor nutritional habits or an unhealthy lifestyle, especially in children. Read more.





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Comments (3)

Angela Irvine
Angela Irvine
09 June 2013 at 19:42 | #
Thank you! I will be checking out your site next time I am in doubt about clever marketed products!
reply
Lana
Lana
27 June 2013 at 13:55 | #
I heard from someone who worked in the Nutella factory that all it is, is ground up ferrero rocher chocolates!
reply
Lisa Willard
Lisa Willard
30 June 2013 at 23:46 | #
Where does the palm oil come from? If its not from a sustainable source then its use is causing deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia & possibly West Africa. Its use is taking away the habits of orangutans & other vulnerable species. Say No To Palm Oil!
reply
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well its much better for you then steak or chicken..so eat up
Elvis

There is no such thing as "Health Food." Any claims to be such is just a marketing technique.

I define "health food" as any food that has a positive nutritive value for my body. Nutella does not, sadly, though it does make my soul happy.....until my pants are too tight.

All food is healthy when eaten in the proper portions. Just as there is no such thing as "health" food, there is not such things as "unhealthy" food. Any food can be made part of an overall healthy diet. It's your diet as a whole that is healthy or unhealthy, not any individual food item.

There are bad foods. Over processed food is very bad for your body causing a plethora of diseases. Even in moderation you can cause serious damage to your body eating over processed food. You can eat with this all food is healthy mentality if you want to but you are only making excuses for not feeding your body. You need to read the label and find out what is in the food you are eating. I think the statement "All food is healthy in moderation" is someone way of justifying eating bad food.

^^ Fear-mongering

I cannot have nutella in the house because I EAT IT ALL!!! Lol

I don't consider it a "bad food" but I understand why other people might. For me, Nutella fits into that catagory of food which "isn't worth it".. I don't like it enough to spend almost 100 cals per tbsp and all that sugar with no vit A, C or calcium, though I don't stop myself if I do feel like it. I usually have it on a waffle... yumm...
That fruit idea sounds awesome though!! Might try that!


Hmmm, reading back on that... I think I do consider it "bad food"... but really, anything's ok in moderation and IIFYM and all that


ET fix typos and remove redundancies

it really depends what you are eating it off

lol - love this

If Nutella is bad, I don't want to be good. :smokin:
It's heaven, nirvana, paradise, rainbows and unicorns all blended together and served in a convenient little jar.

If you think nutella is hard to moderate you should try cookie butter.

nutella = crack

cookie butter = crack on crack

They took it off the shelves at one of my local Trader Joe's and when I commented how they moved the crack to the front desk and now you had to ask for it, the guy told me it was because a family was buying all of them up at the same time and selling them on ebay.

There is no such thing as "Health Food." Any claims to be such is just a marketing technique.

I define "health food" as any food that has a positive nutritive value for my body. Nutella does not, sadly, though it does make my soul happy.....until my pants are too tight.

All food is healthy when eaten in the proper portions. Just as there is no such thing as "health" food, there is not such things as "unhealthy" food. Any food can be made part of an overall healthy diet. It's your diet as a whole that is healthy or unhealthy, not any individual food item.

I understand your premise, but stating that no food is more or less healthy than any other food seems to be taking this position to an extreme. Do you really think a Twinkie is as "healthy" as broccoli? Maybe we differ on our interpretation of the term "healthy".

I agree that any food can be made part of a healthy diet but that doesn't mean that everything you eat is good for you to the same degree.